


A Celebration Is in Order

by pakunoduh



Category: The Glass Scientists (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, im love them so much, they're cute and drunk and gay guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 23:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12692628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pakunoduh/pseuds/pakunoduh
Summary: Henry Jekyll has finally received his Doctorate with high marks and his dear friend decides it's time for his to relax





	A Celebration Is in Order

The carriage slowed in the snowy night, horses huffing clouds into the cold London air as the still fresh Doctor Robert Lanyon glanced up at the building before him. The man was still getting use to the title that was the fruits of his education, but his was not the graduation that was meant to be celebrated that night, he mused as the coach came to a halt. 

 

It wasn’t a very assuming building he was staring at, the multi-story flat complex dull and dreary compared to the houses the young gentleman was accustomed to, but his chocolate eyes lit up the same. The doctor shoved open the carriage door and his face immediately grew ruddy as a gust of winter hit him in the face. He placed a hand on his hat quickly as not to lose it as he bounded up the stairs to the building’s entrance.   
  


As he crested the final stair, the scratched knob turned and the door opened, and one Henry Jekyll stepped out, turning towards the door to lock it before he departed.

“Henry!”

The man in question jumped, skeleton key falling from his hand and onto the snowy stoop, “Hello, Lanyon.” Jekyll threw over his shoulder as he bent to pick up the key, “You’re early.” 

 

“I am on time,” Robert corrected, waiting as his friend finished locking the door, “you were just unprepared for the night.”

 

Henry turned towards his friend with a frown, his hooked nose reddening in the cold, “Forgive me, I am still not use to having free time.”

Robert’s smile widened, “And that’s what tonight is for! You have not had any properly fun since your graduation, we need to fix that.”

 

Henry sighed, “Not too much fun, I still have studies to attend to.”

 

“My god, Jekyll, you’re a doctor now! What could be so important you bask in the moment?” Lanyon shook his head and motioned towards the awaiting coach, “You’ll work yourself to death as your toll for your curiosity.”

 

“But this isn’t just for me, Robert!” Henry threw his hands in front of him as he spoke, the pair walking towards the braying noises before them, “My research could-”

 

“Stop.” Lanyon held a hand out to silence his friend, “Tonight, we shall have no talk of work-”

 

“Like you do such a thing.” Henry muttered as he climbed into his seat.

 

“and it will just be filled with good times and laughter.” Robert finished, glaring at his friend as he settled into his own across from his friend. “Come on, this is a society event, I can’t have you droning on about sciences among the upper class.” The dark skinned man knock on the wall behind him, feeling the weight of the coachman’s leg against it as he did so. A whip snapped in the air as the carriage started moving again, the gentle swaying jostling the pair, “I don’t think that’s their idea of a good time, Harry.”

 

Dr. Jekyll peered at the man across from him, pulling his glove taunter around his fingers, “I have asked you not to call me that.”

 

“In public!” Lanyon called smugly, “But, my dear friend, do you see anyone else here?” The grin on the man’s face growing as he looked at the pale face across from him.

 

Henry blew a strand of brown hair out of his face and furrowed his prominent brow, “You live to antagonize me, don’t you?”

“You make it far too fun, Henry.” Robert winked at his friend and glanced out the window, watching buildings and shops go by in the lamp lights as they made their way to the high end side of town. 

 

Townhouses traded places with factories and wayward homes as the coach carried the pair to their destination. Lanyon made small conversation as they travelled, commenting at the lives of the people whose homes passed by the windows. Jekyll nodded along to the baritone, attention pulled into his own mind as fractions and formulas filtered through it. It took him a moment to realize the conversation had become pointed.

 

“What?” he blinked and looked across to the huffing man before him.

 

“I was asking, dear Henry,” Lanyon furrowed his brow with thin lips, the expression caused his freckled cheeks to look even more full in the dim light, “if you had any interests in going out once we tire of the society’s best.”

“Where would we go?” the man asked.

“There are a plethora of pubs near your residence, didn’t you know?” a glint shown in Robert’s eye as a streetlamp passed.

 

“I’m not sure if a gentleman of your stature should be in a place like that, Lanyon?”

 

“Henry, this is the first time we’ve been able to celebrate your doctorate!” A blur moved in the dark carriage as the man speaking threw up his arms, “Gentlemen protocols be damned, we are going to have fun tonight,” the tenor rung out with conviction and Henry felt like he was being pointed at, “and  _ you are going to enjoy yourself so help me God. _ ”

 

“Yes, yes, Lanyon, I will.” Jekyll replied dismissively, returning his gaze out to the fire lamps. 

 

He heard the older man sigh and fall back into his chair, “I’m not going to  _ force _ you into something you don’t want to do, Henry.” Lanyon’s tone deflated as his posture worsened, “I just want you to have a good time and not be so in your head.”

 

A gloved hand touched Lanyon’s and he looked up to see his friend had moved in to him, “Robert,” a gentle voice fell to his ears, “you mustn’t worry so much,” he heard the smile in Henry’s voice, “you’ll get wrinkles.”

 

“You don’t worry about yourself, someone has to.” he shot back, a smile of his own formed as he spoke. 

 

“You’re not my mother, Lanyon.” The younger doctor shook his head and retracted his hand, missing the subtle warmth of his companion’s as soon as his fingers left his skin.

 

“Thank God for that, I can’t imagine how that poor woman must feel after birthing a creature like you.” Robert swayed with the carriage and he pressed his back into the corner the opposite of the door.

 

“I’ll have you know my mother is a proud woman and is happy to see me succeed.” Jekyll bristled in his seat, back straightening with a glower at his companion.

 

“I’m sure she is,” Lanyon leans back into the cushion behind him, his right arm resting across the top of it, “Let’s do something you won’t be quite as proud of, shall we?” 

 

Henry Jekyll sighed and was about to counter, but the carriage slowed to a stop, Lanyon straightening in his seat.

 

“We’ve arrive!” Robert called out and moved towards the door, pushing it open before the coachmen could. A glimmer flecks in the man’s brown eyes as he holds an arm out towards his friend. 

 

He grins at the pale man across from him, “After you.”

 

~~

 

Henry Jekyll was awkward and rigid as the friends entered the scene, sticking close to a chameleon Lanyon in the crowd. Robert’s demeanor heightened with each step into society, his back straightening and gait becoming more purposeful as he strutted towards acquaintances and strangers alike, his natural charisma lighting up the room as Henry shrank from it. 

 

The younger man eventually found his way to a quieter room and took the moments to calm himself. The room in question had been an unlocked office space, bookshelves filling the room, tombs of all subjects set neatly in place. Jekyll had found reading the titles of the books soothing, the distraction helping the tension to ebb from his shoulders as he took in books he’d never read before, noting in his mind to look into some of those that seemed particularly intriguing. 

 

When he had found the resolve to leave the furnished study, Henry was startled by the loud banging of the door slamming open, the knob impacting heavily with the wall. The young doctor jumped and turned around, his warm eyes finding Lanyon and another fellow waltzing in, laughter rising from the pair as they swaggered their way into the room.

 

“Henry!” Robert called, a bright smile across his full features, “There you are!” The tall man strided towards him, the portly, ruddy man behind him moving towards a bottle of amber liquid set on the desk at the corner of the room.

 

“Hello, Lanyon,” a nervous stutter almost broke into Henry’s voice as his gaze flicked to the man currently pouring a round of drinks, “I hope I’m not intruding.”

 

“Of course not!” a booming tenor resounded through the space as the greying man set down the ornate bottle he depleted. Small blue eyes met his own as the man nodded towards him with a mighty laugh, “Mr. Lanyon was just explaining to me that congratulations are in order for you, sir!” he exclaimed and picked up a glass to hand to the young doctor.

 

“Oh,” Henry instinctively took the glass from the meaty palm extended to him, “Thank you, sir.” he responded, looking at Lanyon nervously.

 

“Come on,” his friend lightly pushed Jekyll’s arm with his elbow, “Sir Byron has excellent taste in cognac.”

Henry smiled at his friend and sipped the drink, hoping his eyes conveyed his thanks at the subtle name drop the other man had provided him. He had noticed a half hour’s time into the event that he didn’t even know whose home he was in and the study had left him empty handed. 

Lanyon laughed at the face the younger man tries to suppress as the alcohol met his tongue and continued to schmooze with the host of the gathering, draining his own glass of liquor over the span of the next ten minutes. Byron pointed the conversation to Henry every now and then, the young man’s tongue loosening the more he drinks from his glass.

 

The trio end up leaving the room once Henry had accepted and drank three glasses of the cognac, the alcohol swimming in his mind as they exit the room. Jekyll laughs too loudly at a joke Lanyon said and sheepishly covered his mouth, giggles still spilling through grinning lips. Robert’s glassy eyes found his friend’s and he doesn’t move to hide his own smile, the expression pushing his cheeks higher and making his more youthful in appearance. Henry barely contained the compliment forcing its way up his throat as Byron leaves them to mingle with his other guests.

 

“How do you know him?” Instead tumbled from his thin lips as his wide eyes continue to stare at his companion’s face,

 

“My father know him professionally,” Lanyon glances away from his friend as he scans the room, the alcohol in his own mind blurring the edges of his vision, “and he’s called upon me a few times for health checks.” Chocolate eyes look back into amber as he continues to smile, “Are you having fun, dear Harry?”

 

“Robert,” Henry whined, face scrunching as he pouts, “we’re in public this time.”

 

“My apologies.” A chuckle sounds to Jekyll’s left as he tries to ignore the body beside his.

 

The young doctor huffed a breath through his nose and fights back a yawn, the hours of socializing getting to the introverted man, “How long have we been here?”

 

“Just about long enough,” Robert’s eyes roamed the crowd, searching for a familiar face as he answers, “I just need to find one more person and then we can go.” His eyes fell on a dark skinned woman with a large white plume in her hat and he lightly placed a hand on Henry’s shoulder, “I shall return.” he said quietly and left his side.

 

Henry began to stutter a protest but by the time his thoughts properly formed, his friend was gone, swallowed by the crowd of well dressed people. Henry sighed and made his way towards the first sitting room of the townhouse. The room held about fifteen socializing people, all whom pay the man no mind as he entered the room. Small pamphlets sat on a end table beside the sofa and Henry took one, blinking at the page as he tried to read its content. It was a penny dreadful and Jekyll ended up engrossed in the small story, eyes shifting over the pages as he read the horror tale. 

 

He heard what might have been his name and looks up to find Lanyon walking towards him, a smile across his face as he approaches. The coachman ran behind Lanyon, flitting away to fetch the carriage while the darker gentlemen continued towards him.

 

“Ready?” he asked, chipper tone cutting through Henry’s ears. 

 

“Sure.” Long fingers relinquish the penny dreadful, setting the piece of popular writing back where he found it before he followed the taller man through the foyer and out towards the entrance. 

 

The men, having spent hours inside a warm building, were caught off guard by a gust of wind that swept through the street, snow picked up from the stoop and swirled around them. Lanyon audibly shivered as he secures his evening coat around himself, shaking hands fishing out gloves as he tried to right himself. 

 

Henry attempted to follow suit and realized with a falling expression that he had lost a glove in the party behind them. The man cursed, earning a quirked brow from his companion as he searched his pockets for the four time. 

“I seemed to have misplaced my glove.” the alcohol in his system helped combat the cold wind, but it didn’t stop his hands from shaking.

 

“Oh,” Lanyon looked around quickly, squinting in the cold as he tried to locate their carriage.

 

“That’s alright, I’ll just-”

 

Henry didn’t get to finish his sentence as Lanyon’s hand whipped out, taking his own and shoving it into the man’s dark purple overcoat. Henry’s eyes grew wide as he stared at their joined hands, Robert’s gloved fingers rested gently against his knuckles inside his pocket. A blush not just from the cold found its way across Henry’s cheeks and he averted his gaze. He slid his other hand into his own overcoat, numbing fingers starting to sting as they left the bitter wind.

 

Lanyon stood there, eyes wide on the ground, his mind stalling with what he’d just done. He didn’t feel Henry’s hand pull away from his pocket, on the contrary, he felt the hand around his squeeze then relax in his grip as they stood in the entryway. He couldn’t look over at his friend, worried the scene would end with a look of disdain and horror on Henry’s face at the intimacy of his irrational act, choosing instead to act as if nothing was transpiring between them.

The carriage finally arrived and the pair jumped away from each other as it approached, hands detangling as they put distance between them, faces somehow warm in the London winter. A nervous gesture from Henry led Lanyon to enter the carriage first, settling into his seat as he anxiously waited for his companion to get situated across from him.

 

The ride back to Jekyll’s lodging was filled with a similar silence, shaky energy setting in the small space as neither could find a neutral conversation to bring up, both lost in their own thoughts and unspoken desires. Lanyon’s mind kept replaying how well Jekyll’s hand felt in his own, how it felt to be pressed side to side with his friend, finally able to grab the hand he’d been longing to hold for ages. He remembered how bright and in awe Henry had looked while animated with the cognac, speaking to Byron about a specific compound he had been researching. At first, Lanyon had been soured by Jekyll’s inability to leave his work at home, but watching how alive he seemed as he spoke with passion about his interests, Robert let him go on with a soft smile between sips of his liquor. 

 

By the time the coach stopped, Lanyon was so lost down the rabbit hole of his affections  he only registered the carriage door shutting as Jekyll exited. With a start, he jumped in his seat and moved to follow, through the door open as he leapt out into the street to follow his friend.

 

“Harry!” he called out as Jekyll fit his key into the front door’s lock. 

 

His friend turned, eyes surprised, looking like he wasn’t expecting Lanyon to come out after him. “Yes?” he asked as the taller man crested the stairs with a breathy huff.

 

“Uh,” Lanyon looked down and fumbled with the hem of his overcoat, nerves freezing him momentarily, “thank you for coming out tonight.” he finally spoke, “I know I mentioned doing more but I figure it’s already been a busy night and you’re probably tired so you’re welcome to go to sleep but I just wanted you to have a good time because you’re always just held up in this depressing building and..” the man droned on in his nervousness, words slipping from his lips and he scolded himself to be quiet.

 

“Robert.” The man looked up sharply at his name, eyes wide, taking in the sight of his friend who looked as anxious as he felt,

 

Jekyll jerked towards him, hesitated, and thought about his motions before leaning forward again, chapped lips ghosting across Robert’s. He pulled away quick enough for Lanyon to think it might have been a phantasm, but when he looks at Henry’s face he saw a full face blush and knew it wasn’t just in his mind.

 

“I had fun,” the young doctor’s eyes were diagonal from Robert, suddenly interested in a small, growing pile of snow, “I will, uh, see you later.” he hurried and turned his key before shutting the door gently behind him.

 

Robert Lanyon stared at the warped wood in front of his eyes, heard the lock click inside the building as muffled footsteps moved away from him. His mind reeled as a hand raised to press a gloved finger to his lips in awe.

 

The man’s eyes dropped to the snowy footprints in front of him, then back the door, a demure smile transformed his soft features, “Goodnight, Harry.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is unbeta so be gentle, I wanted to write fluff because im gay.
> 
> lemme know what you think! 
> 
> any comments or critiques are appreciated ! 
> 
> find me @mvriel.tumblr.com


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